With reference to FIG. 8, the rotation of a capstan motor 13 is conventionally transmitted to a reel gear 73 of a supply reel support or to a reel gear 74 of a take-up reel support by way of a clutch rotation mechanism 194, frictional power transmission mechanism 190, swing idler mechanism 5 and one of a plurality of intermediate gears 60.
A drive pulley 14 is mounted on the output shaft of the capstan motor 13 and coupled to a driven pulley 195 of the clutch rotation mechanism 194 by a belt 15. A first gear 196 fixed to the driven pulley 195 is in mesh with a first gear 191 of the frictional power transmission mechanism 190. A felt plate (not shown) is interposed between the first gear 191 of the transmission mechanism 190 and a second gear 192 thereof. The second gear 192 of the transmission mechanism 190 is in mesh with a second gear 197 of the clutch rotation mechanism 194. A third gear 198 fixed to the second gear 197 is in mesh with a small gear 55 of an idler 52 providing the swing idler mechanism 5. A large gear 54 is fixed to the small gear 55. The large gear 54 is caused to selectively mesh with one of the intermediate gears 60 by the swing motion of the idler 52.
In this way, the rotation of the capstan motor 13 is transmitted to one of the reel gears 73, 74 selectively, drivingly rotating the supply reel support or take-up reel support in a tape winding direction.
The VCR can be set in a forward reproduction mode (hereinafter referred to as the "PLAY mode") wherein the take-up reel support (reel gear 74) is drivingly rotated in the tape winding direction (clockwise direction) to play back a magnetic tape as loaded in position, i.e., as wound around a capstan and a rotary head cylinder. The VCR can be set also in a reverse reproduction mode (hereinafter referred to as the "REV mode") wherein the supply reel support (reel gear 73) is drivingly rotated in the tape winding direction (counterclockwise direction) to play back the tape as loaded. The recorder is further settable in a fast forward mode (hereinafter referred to as the "FF mode") wherein the take-up reel support is rotated at a high speed in the tape winding direction, and in a rewind mode (hereinafter referred to as the "REW mode") wherein the supply reel support is rotated at a high speed in the tape winding direction.
In the PLAY mode and the REV mode, the first gear 196 and the second gear 197 of the clutch rotation mechanism 194 are out of engagement and rotatable relative to each other, permitting the rotation of the capstan motor 13 to be transmitted to the swing idler mechanism 5 through the frictional transmission mechanism 190. In the FF mode and the REW mode, on the other hand, the first gear 196 and the second gear 197 of the clutch rotation mechanism 194 are rotatable together in engagement to transmit the rotation of the capstan motor 13 from the mechanism 194 directly to the idler mechanism 5.
In the VCR, the tape running path extending from the supply reel support to the capstan via the rotary head cylinder involves a great load. In the PLAY mode, the capstan gives an additional tape transport force for running the magnetic tape from the supply reel support to the capstan via the head cylinder, whereas the capstan gives no tape transport force in the REV mode for running the magnetic tape from the capstan to the supply reel support via the rotary head cylinder. Accordingly, driving the supply reel support in the REV mode requires greater torque than is needed in the PLAY mode.
With the conventional VCR, therefore, the reel gear 73 of the supply reel support and the reel gear 74 of the take-up reel support are made different in reduction ratio so as to give greater drive torque to the supply reel support in the REV mode than to the take-up reel support in the PLAY mode.
The difference in reduction ratio between the reel gear 73 of the supply reel support and the reel gear 74 of the take-up reel support nevertheless entails the problem that the tape winding speed becomes lower in the REW mode than in the FF mode to impair the sophistication of the recorder operation.